Is it worth getting pet insurance for cats?

[trixymalixy]

and does anyone have any recommendations?

I have with Direct Line, can cost a lot of money if they get ill or run over.

Yes, vet's bills can be HUUUUUUUGE

We pay about a fiver a month with More Than

How about for an indoor cat?? worth it or wait till she gets a bit older and more prone to illness?

I would say yes. A friend's cat was shot with an airgun and the bills were £4000 [shock!]. As they get a little older they can end up with quite a few visits, if they have kidney problems or cancer or whatever. We used to have Pet Plan, but now have a foster cat from Celia Hammond, so they take care of the bills! Pet Plan was pretty good, but read the small print. Cats often need care for their teeth as they get older. This can be quite costly, and is sometimes not included. Also, you can't usually get new pet insurance for a cat over 10, although you can renew it if you already have it. Pet Plan were more expensive than More Than - more like £10 a month, though I don't know whether their cover is better.

It doesn't have to be an injury to cost a fortune, my boss has an indoor cat that developed some sort of cat-HIV and needs drugs for life (££££££)

Depends I suppose if you want to be faced with the decision of maybe having to put the cat down if you can't afford treatment

yes get it

friend has a cat and pay £5 a month

other friend had a cat that was from rspca and when they tried to get it insured, they said he was too old (was 8)

all was fine for a few years, then cat got ill, and had an operation that cost nearly £880

the younger they are, the better and cheaper it will be

I never had insurance for my cat who died last week at almost 20 years of age. Over the years I estimate she cost me about £500 in vet's bills over and above the routine stuff that insurance does not cover. She had one uti, one bad cut that needed stitches and abs and then, a few months before she died, some teeth removed under GA. So I came out well ahead on her, poor thing. I am not sure if I will get insurance next time - DH and I might put the equivalent amount that we would pay in insurance premiums into our emergency fund instead.

I have all 3 of mine insured, even the 18 year old and although the premium for him is high it gives me peace of mind I won't ever have to make a decision based on cost.

We have decided not to, on the basis that if he ever gets ill, we will use the ££ we have saved. He is 8 now, so at £5 per month we have saved £480!

Yes,definately.
Our cats have been insured with Direct Line since kittens and although quite expensive at £24 per month,at least if one of them was to have an accident I know they would be covered.A broken leg can cost around £800-vets bills are very high.
We've been very fortunate that our cats have been ok but I know if I ever stopped their insurance,something would happen to them and it would end up costing us a small fortune.
I also wouldn't wait til the cat gets old as older cats are alot dearer to insure.Our eldest cat is 12 which is why our insurance is a little dearer.

Our cat is insured through Pet Plan who are very good. She's an Asian/Burmese cross who is prone to getting infections - kidney, pancreatic and the all time favourite cystitus. Its defintely worth it if the cat is any type of breed as our vet told us they tend to be more senstive to infections.

Either insure or put savings aside. There's not much worse than your pet being sick or injured and having to make decisions based on cost

Definitely, and do it now! We didn't until our cat developed recurring urinary tract problems and obv pre-existing conditions are excluded.

We are with More Than who seem fine, but they're all about £6 per month. I think you also want to get them insured while they are younger as you might find an insurance company won't take an older cat, although this means 10+. I believe (though this may be nonsense) that it's easier to continue insurance for an older cat who's been with the same company for a while.

For peace of mind it's worth it imo. We had rehomed an older cat who developed a range of problems just after we got him. Luckily the SSPCA took care of his vet treatment (sadly he died) but when we took him to our own vet she was estimating that we'd be looking at £££ and I had the distinct feeling that she was guiding us towards having him put down because he wasn't insured and the tests were very likely to find something that wasn't curable.

If you have insurance you can just concentrate on getting the best treatment without worrying about paying for it.

Btw, we didn't rehome him because of vet bills! - we had taken him in from the SSPCA, they just covered the vet because we'd had him less that a fortnight before his problems appeared. Poor wee thing, he was lovely (10 years old, no teeth, three legs but a personality that more than made up for his missing bits )